Roasting pretreatment reduces retort odor formation in green tea beverages: Evidence from chemometrics and sensory evaluation

Aroma degradation is a pivotal technical challenge restricting the development of tea beverages. Addressing the aroma stability is a pressing issue for the tea beverage industry. In this study, the effect of roasting raw materials on the formation of retort odor in green tea beverages was assessed using chemometrics and sensory evaluation. The results found that roasting could significantly reduce the concentration of specific retort odorants including theaspirane (0.260 → 0 μg/L) and linalool (-31.30 %), while significantly promoting the accumulation of Maillard reaction products including 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (0 → 0.800 μg/L), 2-acetylfuran (0 → 0.104 μg/L), and norisoprenoids including α-ionone (0 → 0.059 μg/L), β-cyclocitral (28.57 %), β-ionone (82.46 %) (p < 0.05). Sensory evaluation results indicated that moderate roasting (5 min) effectively reduced the intensity of retort odor in green tea beverages while maintaining high overall acceptability. The study provides a theoretical basis for flavor regulation in the tea beverage industry.